How To Grow Tomatoes


How to Grow Big Tomatoes

Ever wonder how some people always seem to manage to grow big tomatoes? It all come down to a few basic steps.

Not all varieties are capable of growing big tomatoes

Selecting a variety of tomato like the "Delicious" that Gordan Graham grew to a whopping 7 pound 12 ounces is the first choice to make.

There a quite a few varieties that are capable of growing to huge proportions, most of which are of the indeterminate type.

Soil, Sun and Water

Tomato plants need good loose soil that is properly fertilized in order to thrive and produce large tomatoes. If the soil in your garden tends to bind work some organic material like peat moss into it before you transplant.

Tomatoes require plenty of sunlight and heat in order to grow, so try to locate them where they will get maximum exposure to the afternoon sun.

Over watering your tomatoes is just as harmful as under watering them. They like deep watering, so water them once or twice a week with a soaker hose, rather than sprinkling them ever day.

Planting your tomato plants

Planting your tomatoes as deeply as possible will ensure a strong root system.

Tomato plants will grow new roots from any part of the stem that is underground, so trim off the bottom couple of branches and plant them deep.

If you find that they are too long and spindly you can lay them out horizontally with just the top forage out of the ground.

Tomatoes need space in order to grow.

If you don't have the garden space for all your plants, cull out the least healthy ones and plant your best ones with at least two feet between plants.

As hard as it is to throw out young healthy plants, giving them the space they need will reward you with more and bigger tomatoes than you would get by planting more tomatoes in too small of an area.

Proper pruning to grow big tomatoes

Since the large varieties of tomatoes are indeterminate you will need to prune them weekly. Fortunately pruning is a simple task. Just pinch of the new shoots that grow between the stem and main branches. Just be careful not to pinch off the flowers.

Removing all but the largest tomato from each cluster will allow your plants to spend their energy growing a few large tomatoes rather than a large number of smaller ones.

Toppling Gordon Graham's 7 pound 12 ounce world record tomato is still going to take a lot of luck, but with the right knowledge you could grow the next record size tomato.

Learn more about how to grow big tomatoes here



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